Treatment of woolen goods.



some form of chlorination of the wool and ALBE RT E. GARRETT, OF ST. ALBANS, ENGLAND.

( 1 TREATMENT OF WOOLEN GOODS.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT EDWARD GAR- RETT, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of Yaverland, Clarence Road, St. Albans, in the, county of Hertford, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Treatment of Woolen Goods, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the finishing of woolen materials such as are used for undergarments, shirts and the like. Such woolen materials are very frequently subjected to chemical processes for the reduction of their tendency to shrink when washed. The processes in question are well known involving will be referred to hereinafter as the treatment in the chlorin bath. The chlorin in the bath acts as an oxidizing agent as is well known. After treatment in the bath, the

goods are usually passed through a clearing their behavior in resisting the absorption of moisture. For this purpose the goods, directly after the treatment in the chlorin bath, or after further treatment (when such is applied) in the clearing bath containing antichlor or the like, are rinsed with water as thoroughly and as quickly as possible in order to remove all traces of the chemicals used, and are then submitted toimmersion for a few minutes in a bath containing a comparatively weak solution of soap and ammonia at a convenient temperature, preferably not exceeding 50 C. The strengthof this bath is a matter of great importance, and a pure soap should be used which is free from alkali. Usually a rather weak soapsolution is employed, containing as a minimum about 4 or 5 cubic centimeters, and as about one liter isused for each grams of Specification of Letters Patent.-

the fabric. If any considerably larger proportlon of ammonia per liter were used, the material would be spoiled. The goods may next be scoured with soap. solution or not, as may be considered preferable, and are rinsed thoroughlyinwater in order to clear them. Finally they are dried and finished by pressing. If white goodsare to be produced the bleaching process should be an oxidlzing one, carried out with a peroxid, such as H 0 or a metallic peroxid, and this must not be applied before the treatment in the chlorin bathas is usual, but must be applied a fter the rinsing which follows the ammonia-soap bath,'the goods being finally rifisteid thoroughly and then dried and fin- 18 e Patented July 20, 1915. Application filed October 6, 1914. Serial No. 865,366.

The invention is not limited in its application to Woolen fabrics or garments already made, but it may be applied also to the wool before the spinning or to the yarn, and the process may be used for the purpose of rendering finished goods which have been treated'only in the usual chlorin bath, more resistant to moisture.

The following examples will indicate how the process is carried out in practice. It is assumed that the goods are treated in lots each of about 50 lbs. weight.

When woolen goods in natural color are tobe treated, they are usually first scoured thoroughly, milled and then submitted to the chlorin bath, the strength of which will vary according to the nature of the material. The chlorin bath, treatment is wellknown and will require no further explanation here. The goods are now rinsed thoroughly in water, and may then be submitted at once to the ammonia-soap bath. A suitable strength of this for 50 lbs. of material to be treated is as follows :-6 lbs. of soap which is as free as possiblefrom alkali, 5 pints of strong ammonia (.880 sp. gr.) and 120 gallons of water. After about 5 minutes immersion in the ammonia-soap bath at say '503- C., the goods are withdrawn, scoured or not as may be preferred with soap solution,

rinsed very thoroughly in water to clear them, and finally dried and finished by usual methods.

Sometimes it may be desirable to subject the goods to a longer treatment in the ammonia-soap bath; eitherup to say 10 minutes in the-same solution, or, preferably, in two or more stages of say 5 minutes each,

'with a rinsing operation between, afresh ammonia-soap bath being used for each period of immersion. For most goods, however, a single. immersion is quite suiiicient to leave the goods in the desired condition, particularly if the chlorin bath was not too strong and if the rinsing following upon it wasthorough. The treatment in the clearing bathcontaining antichlor also seems to be unnecessary if the rinsing is thorough, but after imperfect rinsing the chemical reagents which remain in the goods may largely neutralize the action of the ammonia-soap bath. The final rinsing or washing also must beefi'ected as quickly as possible and must be thorough in order that all traces of the ammonia-soap solution may be removed. If white goodsare to be produced, the treatment is identical down to the stage of rinsing after the ammonia-soap bath, but after that the goods are bleached byperoxid applied in one of the known ways, are rinsed again thoroughly thereafter, and finally dried and finished.

All goods treated by the'process above set forth, whether bleached or not, are remarkably resistant to moisture, that/is to say they absorb moisture only very slowly. The

process therefore enables woolen goods to be produced which combine the advantage of resistance to shrinkage with the retention of the normal behavior of wool toward 7 moisture.

In applying the process to goods'which are supposed to have been finished already, but have only been treated in the chlorin bath, these are washed and then subjected to the ammonia-soap bath treatment as hereinbefore set forth, but they are liable to require longer treatment or a stronger ammonia solution, or more than one immersion in the a1nmoniasoap bath. This method of working is only to be adopted therefore as a remedy for otherwise defective goods, and would not be adopted by preference if it were possible to carry out the process in successive stages as set out above.

In applying the process to wool or vto yarn before these are made up into fabrics, substantially the same operations are performed, but the ammonia-soap solution will preferably not contain more than about 5 cubic centimeters of ammonia per liter of the solution.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Process for treatlng woolen material consisting insubmitting the material to the .which has been subjected to treatment in a chlorin bath, the process consisting in sub mitting the material to the action of a weak amn1onia-soap solution and finally rinsing and drying the material.

4. Process for treating woolen material consisting in submitting the material to the action of a chlorin bath, and subsequently submitting the material to the action of a weak ammonia-soap solution containing notmore than 15 cubic centimeters of strong ammonia per liter of the soap solution.

5. Process for treating woolen material consisting in submitting the material to chlorination in a chlorin bath, rinsing the material, submitting it to the treatment in an ammonia-soap bath containing not more than 15 cubic centimeters of strong ammonia per liter, the treatment in the said bath lasting approximately five minutes, subsequently rinsing the material thoroughly and finally drying and finishing the same.

6. Process for treating woolen material which has been subjected to treatment in a chlorin bath, the process consisting in submitting the material to the action of a weak ammonia-soap solution containing not more than 15 cubic centimetersof strong ammonia per liter, the treatment in the said bath lasting approximately five minutes, subsequently rinsing the material thoroughly and finally drying and finishing the same.

7. As a new article of manufacture, woolen material which has been chlorinated and subsequently treated with a weak ammonia-soap solution, whereby it is rendered resistant to shrinkage and repellent to water which it will only absorb very slowly.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 24th day of September 1914 in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT E. GARRETT.

Witnesses:

Hmmnr A. GILL, H. D. JAMESON. 

